Combined follower and ironing board



l 2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR hf Zlf.- Fa'unfree.

ATTORNEYS May 29, 1923. A

H.'W. ROUNTREE COMBINED FOLLOWER AND IRONING BOARD Filed March 6, 1922 d um Patented May 29, 1923.

HENRY w. noonrnnig', or RICHMOND, VIRGINIA,

PATE T or F l CE v ASSIGNORTO H. w. noonrnnn :&

v BROTHER TRUNK & BAG COMPANY,I-INCORPORATED, on RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

- COMBINED roL-Lownn AND monrne Bonn-n.

Applicationfiled-March 6, 1922... Serial No. 541,453.

To aZZ whomit may concern.

Be it known that I, HENRY W. RoUNrnnE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond; in the county of. Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined Followers and Ironing Boards, of which the following is a specification. v

This iHVQHlJlOI-I,,Wl1l-Gll generally has reference to improvements in. wardrobe trunks, isparticularly directed-to the provision of a follower board which is ,usuallyadjusted to act as a clothes presser and which operates within the compartment of the trunk in which the clothes are hung on hanger;

members that are .slidahly suspended from over-head rods located along the inside upper edges of the opposite side portions of the trunk top, wlien the trunk is at the upright opened. position, and which can be quickly and conveniently removed from the rodsupports and utilized as an ironing board; as de Combined follower and ironing board devices for wardrobe trunks,- heretofore provided and nowin use, are of a somewhat complicated nature, relatively expensive to man,

ufacture, especiallyforthe cheaper grades of wardrobe trunks and whose cooperative parts are so arranged that, more or less difiiculty (particularly for ladies) is experienced, when adjusting the follower ,and

holding it locked tothecloth'es pressing a-djustinents. r 1

Follower or presser boards ofthe general type stated are in use in which the follower is provided with means'for sustaining one end thereof on the trunk body and with the other or free end-supported by upright devices or leg members for .maintaining the follower in position for being conveniently used as an ironing board. The said type of, combined followerand ironing board mentionedis open to the ob ections above noted,

since mechanical adjustment of the legor vertical support for the board "is necessary, to properlysustain thenfollower'iii its flatw'ise or ironing board position. I

Again, in the use of some of the known combined clothes presserv or followers and ironing board. devices, the me ns utilized for a dgusting the said combined dev ces, especially when used as a clothes presser, re.-

quire considerable, care the handling thereof, particularly when hanging 'ladies dresses so that danger of tearing or other wise 'lIlJ-LHHlg costly garments, is avoided.

My invention hasv for its object, first, to

provide a "clothes presser or follower-that can be manufactured at such low cost that its useis applicable-for the cheapest grades of wardrobe trunks and its construction such that it can be advantageously used in connection with all grades and practically all styles of ardrobe trunks now on the market' a Second, to provide a combined clothes follower or presser and ironing board for wardrobe trunks, so simple in its arrangement, that it can bemore or less instantly released from the garmentpressing adjust-i ment by anyone, without the need. of any complicated manipulation of the parts and which can be readily and conveniently fitted onto the trunk body --to serve as an ironing board, as desired. o i

Third,,to provide a deviceiof thecharacter and for the purposes stated, in which the danger of injury to, garments of any. kind, while such device to the clothes press ing adjustment or removing it from the clothes hanging compartment of the trunk, o

to. support it upon the trunkbody toserve as an ironing board,.is positively overcome,

:Zith other minor objects in view, that will be hereinafter apparent,v my invention comprehends the combined follower and ironing boardfor wardrobe trunks'thateinbodies the peculiar features of construction and novel arrangement-of parts, fully explained .in the following detailed description, especially stated in the appended claims and illustrated in 'tli e accompanying draw-- ing s, in whichzf v I 57 Figure 1 is a perspective view of a Wardrobe trunk to which ny in vention is applied, the said invention being shown as'a follower and inthe. clothes pressing position. i Figure, 2 is a, perspective view of my im-. proved coinbined clothes presser or follower. and ironing appliance for wardrobe trunks. .Figure 3 is a, perspective view of the wardrobe trunk, v thev follower device being illustrated as supported and in (intere'ngaged connection with the trunk drawers and in position for beingconveniently utilized as an ironing boar v i Figure 4 is a vertical section of a portion: of the'clothes compartment of the wardrobe trunk the follower device being shown in Figure 5 is a diagrammatic horizontal plan view of the follower board .and the said view illustrates how the follower, is sustained against lateral displacement or wobbling when supported by the trunk drawers, as in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is an illustrative diagram view hereinafter specifically referred to.

In the drawings, is illustrated a modern type of wardrobe trunk that comprises two half sections so hinged together that, when opened, and the trunk is supported in upright position, as shown in Figure 1, the drawers that fill one compartment, and the clothes chest formed within the other compartment, have such relation that access to either of the said trunk compartments may be conveniently and readily had.

In the trunk construction shown, the top of the clothes compartment has the usual trolley rods or hanger bars 2 secured to the inner upper portions of the opposite side members 20, in the usual manner, and upon which the conventional type of clothes hanger devices 3 are supported and adapted for being slidably shifted when the clothes are moved together, and held under compression by the combined follower and ironing board, as is best shown in Figures 1 and 4,

. and the construction of which, together with the means for sustaining it in operative con-.

nection with either the clothes compartment 1 or the drawers of the other compartment 5, constitutes the essential features of my invention.

In my construction, the combined follower and ironing board has the shape of the ordinary ironing board and is of suitable length to provide a, presser member that practically, when suspended as a clothes presser or follower, extends the full length of the garments hung in the clothes compartment, see Figures 1 and 4.

The combined p'resser and ironing board,

designated 4, in practice, is covered with genuine press cloth and is well padded on that side that engages the clothes and which constitutes the ironing surface 40, as shown.

To provide for a maximum rigidity of the upper end of the board and also for extending practically across the full'width ofthe clothes compartment, the said upper end of the board haslate'ral extensions 41-41 to the extreme ends of which are secured, in

any suitable way, metal hanger hooks 6-6 Y which are so shaped that they may be quickly hung onto or lifted off the trolleyor hanger bars 2, as desired. i

It will be readily apparent,'by referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, if the board 4 is hung onto the opposite hanger rods or bars, the said board can be easily pushed back to compress the hangers 3 with 1 ends of the said rods their suspended clothing to a tightly closed up condition, as shown in Figure 4, and to hold the follower and the clothes to their compressed back positionshown in the said Figure 4, suitable means, in the nature of locking elements, are cooperatively mounted uponthe board and the opposite sides of the lothes compartment.

In the drawings, is illustrated a preferred arrangement of locking elements for holding the board to its clothes compressed adjustment and these are so arranged that they can be conveniently and almost instantly manipulated by any one, either when causing the board to follow back into the clothes compartment, or when it is desired to disconnect the follower board from the opposite side hangers or controls to apwill be seen that at a point about midway its length, a strip 8, which is also in pract1ce, fully covered with the usual press cloth,

is rigidly secured, in any suitable way, across the bottom of the said board, and

the said strip 8 is of a length equal that of the full width of the board 4 at its top edge, the reason for which will be presently ex-' plained.

The board 8 primarily acts as a stiffener for the ironing board 4 and, in connection with a cross cleat 9 that is also secured on the under side of the board 4, near its outer end, secures the board against bulging or splitting, a condition that frequently occurs during the constant use of the hot iron across the ironing surface.

The long strip 8 is a relatively wide one and by reason thereof it produces additional follower surface for pressing against the clothes and it also acts as a guard against possible entwining of soft fabrics around the oppositely shiftable locking rods 10 whose inner ends ride in a central keeper or housing 11 that is riveted to the cross strip 8. Each of the inner ends of the rods 10 has an outwardly projected compression finger 12 and each of the said fingers 1212 are slidable in individual slots 13-13, formed in the said housing 11, as shown. The rods 10 extend in opposite direction along the strip 8 and have their ends guided in plates or keepers 14-14, it being understood that, in practice, the said rods 10 are normally distended by a coil spring 15 that is interposed between the inner adjacent within the housing 11, as shown.

By providing the common pushing the board back to compress the hung clothe he ends of'the locking rods 1010 and located I yp of p distended locking rods, it follows that when" edges of the opposite trunk sides, as before stated.

. In addition to functioning as a means for stiffening the board '4 and to serve as guards for holding the locking rods out of direct engagement with the clothes and as additional follower surfaces to engage the clothes the said cross strip 8 also functions as a means for holding the board against a too free wobbling or lateral displacement of the device when it is utilized as an ironing board, asshown in Figure 3.

It will'be noticed by referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, that my construction of combined follower and ironing board device can be conveniently supported, for use as'an ironing board, by projecting the upper and widest end of the board, within a partly pulled out drawer 50 and under the bottom of the closed drawer, located above the partly pulled out drawer 50. The top edge 51 of the pulled out drawer constitutes the support for theboard 4 and the interenga ing of the large end of the board (that fits into the pulled out drawer) with the bottom of the closed drawer, constitutes a practically rigid support for the board as it is held in the horizontal position for being conveniently used for ironing purposes, as shown.

It will be noticed, particularly by referring to Figure 5, that the large end of the board 4 is practically the full width of the drawer, the hook members 6-6 at the opposite sides tending to hold the board in its proper straight position, and to which position the board is further held by the cross strip 8 that engages the upper front edge of the pulled out drawer 50, such arrangement of parts tending to avoid pulling the drawer 50, on which the board 4 rests, out further than necessary to provide the desired sup port for the board 4, and also against permitting a toofree displacement or side wo-bbling of the board 4;, when using it in the manner shown in Figure 3.

7 Without the long cross strip 8, before mentioned, and which bears against the front upper edge of the open drawer 50, when the appliance is used as an ironing board, the tendency of the said board, if used (without the strip 8) would, under very slight lateral pressure on the board, while ironing, cause such board to take the position, illustratively indicated in the diagram, Figure 6, and

hangers at the opposite upper edges thereby cause. the ironing, board to become easily separated or disconnected fromits hearings or 'supportingumembers. 1. c From-the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accomp anying-drawings, the completev construction, the manner application and the advantages of -my combined follower and ironing board appliance will be readily apparanet to those familiar with the use orthemanufacture ofwardrobe" trunks. I Y

of its I i combined followerand:ironing-board has no mechanical devices that require carefulvadjustingto set the applianceeither to the clothes-pressingadjustment shown in Figure 1, or in the ironing board position, shown'in Figure 3. The construction of the appliance and the ease with hung in place in the clothes compartment or positioned between a pair of the trunk drawers to ho-ldit in place as an ironing which it can be board being such that a lady can readily place, the combined follower and ironing board in such position as needed.

The appliance has such configuration that no pro eCting parts are present that can be readily become entangled with the clothes I against which the device is held, andits cost of manufacture is so low that it can be well used as an accessory to the cheaper grades of wardrobe trunks as well as with the grade and expensive types of such higher trunks.

lVhat I claim is:

1. As a new article, a combined follower and ironing board device for wardrobe trunks provided with clothes hanger members at the upper edgeof the clothes compartment and having a set of drawers in another compartment, the said device comprising a tapering board having lateral ex-, tensions at the upper end, a hook fitted to each of the said ends for fitting over the clothes hanger members to support the de-.

vice as a follower, a cross strip attached to the board body whose ends extend practically the full width of the clothes compartment and the full width of the trunk drawers, the said strip constituting a follower portion when the device is adjusted as a clothes presser and operating as an abutment strip for'engaging the outer top edge of a drawn out trunk drawer when the upper or wider end of the device is inserted into the partly Y drawn out drawer and projected. under the next top drawer to bear against the bottom thereofwhen the device is sustained on the trunk drawers to serve as an ironing board.

2. A combined follower and ironing board for wardrobe trunks composed of two, hinged sections, one of which constitutes a clothes compartment and the other of which has a series of superimposed drawers, .a ndj trolley of the clothes compartment, the said combined follower and ironing board comprising a tapering board whose widest end has opposite lateral extensions each provided with a hanger hook, the said hooks constituting members for engagingthe opposite sides of a drawer when the board is supported for use as an ironing board and adapted forengaging the trolley hangers in the clothes compartment when the board is used as afollower, the said combined follower and ironing board including a cross strip that constitutes an abutment for engagingthe outer face of the drawer edge upon which the board rests when it is used as an ironing board and a support for finger released and spring distended elements adapted for engaging and interlocking with the opposite side Walls of the clothes compartment, when the board is used as a follower said board being adapted to be inserted into a partially opened drawer and lie with said hooks in engagement with the side walls of the drawer into which the board is projected, the top of the projected board engaging the under side of the next drawer above, whereby the board will be held against lateral movement and maintained substantially rigidly in place.

HENRY, W. RQUNTREE. 

